Senator Baldwin to Attorney General William Barr: Stop Efforts to Gut the Affordable Care Act in Court
As Supreme Court ACA Hearing Approaches and Republicans Ram Through a Supreme Court Nominee in an Illegitimate Process, Democratic Lawmakers Highlight How Overturning the ACA Will Impact Health Coverage for Millions of Americans, Including Those Who Contract COVID-19.
“It is unconscionable for the Department of Justice to pursue this lawsuit in the midst of this unprecedented public health crisis, and we urge you to rescind your support of these efforts immediately.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, along with 19 Senate colleagues, sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to rescind its support of the Supreme Court lawsuit that seeks to invalidate the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In the letter, the Senators highlight how health insurance protections for millions of Americans are at stake in light of the ongoing lawsuit against the ACA and the current Supreme Court nomination fight, and the ways in which health insurers could discriminate against millions more people who contract COVID-19 if protections in the ACA are gutted.
The letter was led by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and was also signed by Ed Markey (D-MA), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Gary Peters (D-MI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tina Smith (D-MN), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and Chris Murphy (D-CT).
“We urge the Department of Justice to immediately rescind its support of the lawsuit in California v. Texas asking the Supreme Court to declare the ACA unconstitutional and invalidate the law in its entirety,” wrote the lawmakers. “Passed in 2010, the ACA dramatically expanded the number of Americans with health insurance. Destroying this progress and ripping away critical protections is cruel on its face. Looking to do so in the midst of a nearly unprecedented public health emergency—a COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed over 220,000 American lives and infected over 8 million people—is especially unconscionable.”
The full letter is available here.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments in California v. Texas on November 10, 2020. Among other critical provisions, the ACA has made it illegal for insurance companies to deny insurance coverage for the 133 million Americans with pre-existing conditions. Before the ACA became law, insurers could exclude coverage of care associated with pre-existing conditions or refuse to provide coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions altogether; charge higher premiums based on a person’s health status or gender; limit certain benefits like mental health treatment, prescription drugs, or maternity care; and impose lifetime or annual caps on benefits. Health experts warn that, without the ACA, health insurers could classify COVID-19 as a pre-existing condition and deny COVID-19 survivors health insurance—adding millions more people to the previously existing 133 million Americans with pre-existing conditions.
Despite the need for these essential protections for Americans amid the ongoing public health crisis and the growing number of individuals contracting COVID-19, the Department of Justice is currently in court seeking to invalidate the ACA while President Trump is working to fill the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Supreme Court seat with his nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, in time for the November 10 arguments. Barrett’s nomination is a key component of the president’s self-stated goal of “terminating” the ACA.
